Kadar is laid-back, with none of the airs normally associated with a star director. He is very focused when he works — but also very friendly and outgoing. Although he has made many feature films, he considers industrial films the true art of his trade: “For one thing, we have the most extensive technical possibilities with such films, which also require us to tell a very convincing story in a very short time.” Kadar says this is a challenge many feature film directors have failed to master successfully. Some of them are famous, in fact. “I know all of them, of course," says Kadar.

There’s also the challenge of being in an environment that normally has nothing to do with filmmaking — and doesn’t have much time for it, so to speak. That’s the reason for the detailed preparations and a team in which everyone knows his or her job in advance. The team had already spent over an hour setting up their equipment before Merck cancer researcher Mireille Krier stepped onto the “set” wearing 3D glasses to discuss a three-dimensional projection of a molecule with her colleagues. The camera was already set up, the lenses had been tried out, distances measured, and backgrounds checked and lighted. The scene in the lab was shot with absolutely no problems in less than five minutes. The coordination is truly amazing sometimes — as when Kadar says, “ND6 out, ND9 in” from behind the camera. It sounds as though he’s talking to himself — but his assistant Melanie Vetter hurries off to get the right lens filter for the changed light conditions.

“Live a Better Life” was shot in cinematic format with 35 mm film. Every evening, the rolls shot that day were taken to a lab, where the material was developed, processed, and digitized. Kadar explains his decision to use traditional celluloid as follows: “This material gives us the most saturated colors and the most subtle contrasts.”

When it is completed, the film will be three to four minutes long — and Merck Executive Board Chairman Karl-Ludwig Kley is very much looking forward to it. “I’m really excited to see how it turns out,” he tells Kadar. Both men seem to understand that an encounter like this one can only produce a superb result.